Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad speaks about his first two years back in office during a January 2013 interview with The Des Moines Register.

Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday his three priorities for the legislative session were education reform, property tax reform and his healthiest state initiative - in that order.

His priorities are no surprise, but the fact that he numbered them is interesting. The veteran governor usually insists all of his top priorities are equally important right up to the moment legislators turn off the lights at the Statehouse.

With a month left before legislators' pay runs out, it's too early to write off any of the big three on the governor's to-do list. Nevertheless, the way he numbered the goals could indicate some political realities.

The Iowa House and Senate have passed different versions of the education reform bill. While there are significant differences in how each chamber treated the governor's proposals and how much they spend, legislative leaders in both parties seem to think it's possible to find common ground. The two parties are working together on the issue, which is a good sign.

The biggest dispute I heard from legislative leaders at the end of last week was procedural: House Republicans want Senate Democrats to take up the House bill; Senate Democrats want their own bill to advance in the House. Ultimately, both leaders say the goal is to get a bill into a House-Senate conference committee to work out differences.

The property tax issue has thornier and more entrenched disputes. Republicans want to permanently reduce tax rates for all commercial property and limit growth for other classes. Democrats want to keep rates the same but offer a tax credit that is capped to target smaller businesses. Their plan has an escape hatch for state government if revenue growth stalls.

These are the same partisan arguments that left property tax reform in the recycling bin last year. In addition, a growing state revenue surplus has fueled other priorities for tax cuts. Legislative leaders from both parties say they agree they want to get this bill into a conference committee soon. But a compromise seems no closer today than it did on the first day of the legislative session.

The governor's third priority - health care - starts with wide partisan divisions. Democrats want the state to accept the federal offer to expand Medicaid to an estimated 150,000 Iowans at no additional cost to the state for the first few years. Branstad and House GOP leaders argue the federal money is not secure and it would be better to enact a more modest state program that emphasizes prevention and personal accountability.

There are some points of agreement. Leaders in both parties have expressed interest in structuring a system where payment is based on outcomes as opposed to fees for service, for example. But Gov. Terry Branstad's legislation to expand the existing IowaCare program had yet to be delivered to legislators as of Monday afternoon. A spokesman said the bill draft would be ready sometime this week.

Iowans won't get much time to consider the details of Branstad's proposal. It would need a waiver from the federal government, so legislators can't put it off for more study. And even if legislators agreed on ideals for structuring a health-care plan, it likely wouldn't change opinions about whether Medicaid should be expanded.

Branstad might be willing to let this issue simmer for a bit longer, but Democratic leaders have said they won't adjourn without action on health care. If nothing is done, most of the 67,000 people on the existing IowaCare program who can't afford private insurance could lose coverage at the end of this year. Neither party wants that.

That may push the issue above tax cuts in the legislative priority list. House Republicans would likely choose tax relief as their main goal, but they haven't vowed to barricade themselves in the Statehouse if it doesn't happen. Tax cuts face no deadline other than the next election.

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Obradovich: Gridlock endangers priorities

Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday his three priorities for the legislative session were education reform, property tax reform and his healthiest state initiative ? in that order.